


Ashes In The Snow

by Oleander_Lights



Series: Ultra Sword and Shield: The Full Adventure And Beyond! [4]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Emotional, Emotional Hurt, Family Angst, Family Issues, Gen, Loss of Trust, Sad Ending, Sobbing, Unresolved Emotional Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23385484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oleander_Lights/pseuds/Oleander_Lights
Summary: The day of Melony and Gordie’s Pokémon battle was a day that divided Circhester right down the middle.But how did Melony’s daughter and Gordie’s little sister feel about her mother and brother’s fighting? Just how did she feel that day?
Series: Ultra Sword and Shield: The Full Adventure And Beyond! [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668469
Comments: 20
Kudos: 14





	Ashes In The Snow

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to SnowytheSoft for letting me use Agatane for the last name of Melony and her fam.
> 
> I came up with the name Hailey Sophia for Melony’s daughter.
> 
> We will get to see Hailey’s journey in another fanfic but she will be thirteen in that fic and not ten like in this one. Also she gets a starter from Melony and one from Gordie. Which we can probably guess what Pokémon they will be. Of course the one from Melony will be an ice type and the one from Gordie will be a rock type. All I can is that both her starters originate from Alola without going into spoiler territory.
> 
> Also this is a national dex included AU, because as much as I adore Swsh, honestly screw the dex cut.
> 
> Also I know the guide says she’s level headed but it would honestly go out the window on a day like in the fic. Because this is her family breaking apart. But her levelheadedness will return in the fic where she goes on her journey.
> 
> Also this is also a part of the Ultra Sword and Shield AU of which “You Broke Your Children For Life” is a part of, so all the fics in this series take place along the same time line. So Hailey’s journey will also be published along side the Ultra Sword and Shield main fanfic as extra material and to further explore her character. Also because she will be a rival to Victor and Gloria in the main Ultra SWSH fic.
> 
> If you’re wondering where the triplets are it’s because Melony’s pregnant with them.

Hailey Sophia Agatane stared at the television screen with wide eyes, she could barely stand to watch anything these days. Not cartoons, not movies, not Pokémon battles, not even the shows mum and Gordie watched.

Maybe mum and Gordie were the reason she could barely watch anything, never had the house been filled with this much hate, resentment, and anger before. Ever since Gordie had announced he was going to be a rock type trainer everything was going downhill a kilometer a second. It made Hailey want to scream.

Neither of them were home, and for that Hailey was grateful, that meant no screaming match between the two, at least not for a little while. So perhaps Hailey forced herself to watch the television because she had to escape the hostile environment somehow no matter what. 

Even if that meant watching a mind-numbing show about spoiled rich socialites verbally beating the crap out of one another accompanied by a heavy amount of bleeps. It was something at the very least. Something was better than nothing in times like this.

She then heard muffled voices from the entryway, alas, her peaceful afternoon had barely even started and now it had come to a halt with a shrill screech. 

“Not again!” She thought as she quickly shut off the telly and darted to her room.

She left the door open just a smidge to see out of it, no matter what she told herself, no matter how much she scolded herself for watching, something in her always had to watch the storm unfold. No matter how much it pained her to or how much it made her want to scream and cry while she watched and listened.

“Gordon, Gordon, Gordon what am I going to do with you?” sighed Melony as she placed her hands on her hips, “Why happened to you? You loved ice types!”.

“Yes mother, loved. As in the past tense, I click more with rock types! Why can’t you see that?” Gordie growled.

“Well, here we go again!” thought Hailey glumly as she peered through the crack in her door, she had her Cubchoo plushie clutched tight to her chest.

It often puzzled Hailey just how different she looked from her mum and Gordie. Melony was a large and lovely woman while Gordie was burly, broad-shouldered, and handsome. Hailey was neither tall nor did she receive the physique her mother and elder brother possessed. Hailey was the polar opposite in that concern. Hailey was scrawny and short, petite as her mother had called her, so much so she could fit her middle finger and thumb around her wrist comfortably. Sure they all shared the same blue eyes and light hair but that was where the resemblances stopped.

She couldn’t think of a single personality trait she shared with them either come to think of it. She had no semblance of Gordie’s hot-headed nature nor did she inherit the stubbornness of Melony. No, Hailey was a girl who preferred to be quiet and practical. Sensible as many called her, she preferred to sit back and observe rather than get into the action. Maybe that’s why she hadn’t done her gym challenge yet. Maybe that’s why she could never find a way to get her mother and brother to stop fighting.

“Gordie where did I go wrong with you?” Melony said under her breath, “Where did I go so wrong?”.

Hailey released a silent gasp, her mother didn’t! This wasn’t like her mum at all!

“Anger can make people say and do things they wouldn’t normally do. That’s why it’s the most dangerous of all emotions,” Hailey’s teacher once told her, “It can cause relationships to go up in flames faster than any wildfire can destroy a forest,”.

Hailey now knew what her teacher meant by that now. Just what red hot rage had done to her mother and brother, how they were basically now mortal enemies, their house a battleground. Them throwing words laced with napalm into the faces of the other, venom-filled words, words that cut deeper than any knife ever could.

“I’m fuckin’ sick of this shit mother,” hissed Gordie, “Why can’t you understand that I’m not going to change my mind any time soon?”.

“Fine, we’ll settle this with a battle!” Melony shouted, “If you win then you will get to be a rock type gym leader, and if I win then you’ll be an ice type trainer for as long as you live under this roof!”.

“Oh trust me, mother, I’ll win,” Gordie sounded absolutely incredulous in that low tone he would always talk in whenever he got upset.

“This is where it all falls apart,” Hailey thought to herself silently, “Isn’t it Cubbie?”.

Her Cubchoo plushie didn’t respond, of course, otherwise, this would have a very different story. Part of Hailey wished her Cubchoo plushie did respond because having a possessed plushie would be far more fun than having to worry about the very real possibility of her family permanently being broken apart.

Gordie didn’t come to dinner that night, it was solely Melony and Hailey. Despite not Gordie being in the room it was thick with tension. It was as though a storm had settled over the home of the Agatane family, and Hailey hated it.

Speaking of storms the wind absolutely howled that night, it slapped against the window as it carried snow flurries with it. It was almost like the world was beginning to reflect all the tension in the family. It was as though everything was being to morph the world into a nightmare or hell on earth, or at least that’s how Hailey saw it. 

All she wanted was to run and never look back, leave the cold clutches of Circhester and make a brand new life for herself somewhere else. Somewhere where no one had even ever heard of her family or her mother’s status as a gym leader.

“Goodness, Arceus certainly does have a cruel sense of humor sometimes don’t they?” Hailey thought as she stared into the darkness.

………………….

The world was grey and filled with gloom the next morning when Hailey arrived at the gym with Melony and Gordie. The air was so freezing cold that it burned.

The cameras of the paparazzi were giving off bright flashes every millisecond. Usually, Hailey would have given them a big, bright smile. But she just couldn’t muster one up that didn’t look like she was about to burst into unending sobs or had a gun to her head.

The stadium was absolutely packed. Everyone seemed to be cheering on Gordie or Melony, and Hailey sat in the middle of the front row, the only one completely silent. She was also wearing all black, she looked like she was more appropriately dressed for a funeral than watching a Pokémon battle.

“Today our beloved gym leader Melony is challenged by her son Gordie!” the announcer boomed over the loudspeakers.

The crowd went absolutely electric, the energy pulsating through every single person in the crowd sans Hailey, who kept a solemn look on her young face. She was only ten years old, she shouldn’t have had to worry about her family and being shredded to bits, and over her brother wanting to be a rock type trainer for crying out loud!

That’s when Melony and Gordie took the field, each one with an ice-cold expression on their faces. Unmoving and unchanging, like a stone. Hailey also wore the same expression as her mother and brother, her sadness and worry shoved down deep inside her. Concealed beneath heavy layers of ice and stone, locked with a nearly uncrackable code.

The mother and son went to opposite ends of the field.

“And let the battle begin!” the referee shouted.

Melony threw out her Frosmoth and Gordie his Barbaracle. Even the Pokémon seemed to have the same anger in their hearts as their trainers did.

The match was like a wildfire, except the anger was being expressed in the passion of the battle, but Hailey could see the final remnants of the relationship between mother and son go up in flames as the battle drew on.

She could almost see the ashes from the emotional wildfire float down from the sky, there was absolutely no turning back the hands of time now, and all Hailey could do was watch as she tried to hold back her tears.

Things reached a fever pitch as Lapras and Coalossal grew into their towering gigantamax forms, a light purple glow coming off them as they reached their full heights. They were like monsters from the fairytales Melony always used to tell her, except they were real and not from some silly folklore myth.

Hailey desperately wanted to close her eyes and just run from all of this. Run far far away from her mother and brother, and all their dumb fighting too. Run and find Jirachi so that she could wish for everything to go back to normal and to have her family unbroken again.

“Coalossal use g-max volcalith!” shouted Gordie as his Pokémon followed his command.

Lapras never stood a chance against a move like that. It was a split second after it hit that Lapras went down in a big burst of an explosion, smoke towering up as it fainted and returned to its ball.

Coalossal also returned to its normal size after Lapras fainted.

“Lapras is unable to battle! That means the winner is Gordie!” the announcer boomed over the loudspeakers.

Hailey could feel the tears fill up her powder blue eyes. It wouldn’t be much longer until the flood gates were open and tears would be coming out of her like a waterfall.

Hailey raced out of the arena, her scrawny legs took her as fast as they could go. Tears began to blur her vision as she ran. She shoved her way through two people in the hallway, her mother would have had a heart attack if she had seen Hailey do that, but Melony was still on the field as was Gordie.

Her footfalls echoed down the hallway as she ran. A given as there were very few people in the hallway. Everyone she ran past turned to give a sideways stare at the crying girl.

She threw open the door to the women's restroom and locked herself in a stall.

That’s when the tears began to blur her vision and they became burning and hot as they rolled down her cheeks. Everything was shattered, her brother and mother’s relationship was no more, the town was divided down the middle, and over something as silly as a Pokémon battle!

Hailey then released a hellish scream as her sobs grew heavy and aching. Gagging even. The tears grew and salty as they continued to fall down her face.

At that point Hailey hated the world and all the people in it so much, she wanted to burn down the world until nothing was left except ashes. Until ashes covered the ground, a scorched world where nothing would ever grow again. Arceus’ earthen kingdom burned completely to ash.

Her world was now like ashes in the snow, a destructive mark on a pure substance. How quickly snow could be rendered impure freaked her out like crazy. The world was supposed to have impurities in it otherwise it wasn’t real. 

Then her rage turned to two people in particular. Melony and Gordie, she hated them with the same white-hot rage that only a child mad at adults can have. They were supposed to always be a family, but now they were all shattered.

It was that day Hailey learned one thing, never fully trust anyone. For people are selfish creatures, forgetting the needs and feelings of others even though they promise to take others’ needs and feelings into account. People often forgot how it felt when others broke promises or broke their trust. 

“Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get out there,” Hailey scolded herself in a cracked voice in between sobs.

She walked up to the restroom mirror and looked at herself. She was a complete mess of a girl. Puffy red eyes from the tears and snot dripped from her nose. Damn, she’d need to fix this and fix this quick. She rubbed water over her eyes to get the puffiness to go away and she wiped away the snot with a paper towel.

She went out into the hall, she looked down as she picked off a knot from her sweater. She then bumped into someone.

“Watch where you’re goin!” it was Gordie, one of the very last people she wanted to see right now. Oh for the love of Arceus!

When she looked up he was already a bit farther down the hall and Hailey had to sprint to catch up with him again.

“Gordie, wait!” said Hailey, “I need to talk to you!”.

“Gordie! Wait!” shouted Hailey, “Wait! Wait!”.

Finally, Gordie turned, he was red in the face. No doubt from another screaming match with their mother. He knelt down to eye level with Hailey. She felt a chill of dread go through her entire body as he did.

“Now listen here Hailey Sophia Agatane and listen good,” his voice was low and primal, and undoubtedly wrathful, “Nothing you say to me will ever, and I mean ever fix mum and I’s relationship. It’s done Hailey, it’s over. Just go back to mum, you’ve already sided with her anyway. I’ll call you later,”.

Hailey shut her eyes tight, no, she wouldn’t cry in front of Gordie. He would just think she was a crybaby or trying to guilt him with crocodile tears.

“Well I don’t find it fair you assume that I-,” Hailey began, “..........Picked a side,” she trailed off as she opened her eyes to find that Gordie had disappeared.

And that was that after that day Hailey swore to herself that she would get out of Circhester as soon as her mother agreed to let her do the gym challenge.

**Author's Note:**

> Now we know just how this riff in the family has begun to effect Hailey. But we’ll see how it effects Hailey three years on in the fanfic about her Pokémon journey.


End file.
